Yeah, I thought that Samsung commercial was absolutely BRUTAL when it first came out, but I hardly think a lot of young people think the iPhone's uncool. I think they see Android phones and iPhones as on par with each other which actually sucks for Apple.

The iPad, on the otherhand, just crushes Android devices which still have a knockoff vibe to them.

It's impressive how good Apple are at getting people to upgrade despite minimal changes but that won't last. It's hard to imagine Jobs would be impressed with them lately - they had to know Apple Maps wasn't ready and for a business whose slogan was "it just works", that's damaging. The iPhone 5 is underwhelming, it's gone from having a tiny screen to having a small screen, compared to its competition, and not much else.

This is anecdotal, but what I'm hearing is that Apple isn't cool among today's kids (with whom I am totally down) - they see the iPhone as the sort of thing their teachers have and therefore by definition not cool.

Apple's biggest problem is that they've been so successful over the last decade, the only way is down.

^Drag0n^ wrote on Jan 27, 2013, 17:12:Post-Steve Apple is certainly doing all it can to not follow his playbook.

I cannot believe that, if alive, Jobs would actually have stood behind changing the form factor of the docking connector with NO performance improvement. I honestly believe this to be the greatest Achiles Heel of the current generation of iDevices. Were steve alive, I'm certain that any new dock connector would have been accompanited with corresponding USB3-level speed updates.

As it is now, the iPhone 5 is exactly the device he cancelled just prior to stepping down: an iPhone 4 with a biogger screen, and nothing else.

^D^

I was expecting Apple to coast for a good 5 years before it felt the loss of Jobs, but it looks like the company is going to take it in the shorts much, much quicker than that.

I have the iphone 4 since everyone at work has an iphone and they wanted me to support it. It's a good phone. It's the first iphone that is "good enough". The home button is failing mechanically, which pisses me off something fierce, but other than that it offers enough features that I have no need to upgrade to the 4s or 5. In fact, I may leave the apple ecosystem after this phone. My contract is expired but the phone still works "well enough" that I don't have issues keeping it going until the battery starts to go, and if I could replace the battery and the home button, I'd probably use the phone for a few more years.

And that's something I'm not sure even Jobs can deal with. The problem with that hyper-aggressive iterative development cycle is that sooner or later you get a product that pretty much is what a customer needs, and they'll be reluctant to upgrade and eek out as much life as possible. Cue planned obsolescence, which is the hallmark of Apple these days, but still... What can you do with this phone that's so revolutionary that you justify the ecosystem? I don't even find myself jonsing for 4g that bad.

^Drag0n^ wrote on Jan 27, 2013, 17:12:Post-Steve Apple is certainly doing all it can to not follow his playbook.

I cannot believe that, if alive, Jobs would actually have stood behind changing the form factor of the docking connector with NO performance improvement. I honestly believe this to be the greatest Achiles Heel of the current generation of iDevices. Were steve alive, I'm certain that any new dock connector would have been accompanited with corresponding USB3-level speed updates.

As it is now, the iPhone 5 is exactly the device he cancelled just prior to stepping down: an iPhone 4 with a biogger screen, and nothing else.

^D^

Under Jobs, the ridiculous dock connector for iDevices was created ion the first place. They could have just used mini-USB like most other devices do but Jobs understood locking people to a proprietary format that provides no extra benefit is a great way to keep people locked to your ecosystem. Sony used to get shat on all the time for their proprietary formats but Apple's one of the worst offenders in this department. I love all these articles that are popping up to show "Don't worry, Apple's still kicking ass you know!" when their stock price is taking a beating because investors are finally cluing into the fact that they were overvalued, their growth is a fashion trend and a lot of people (particularly young people) are moving on to Android. Never mind that Android devices are destroying Apple in sales either. Talking about good points with Apple is fine but the people who ignore everything else because it would require them to admit to Apple's not always #1 is ridiculous. I've never seen a company consistently get such preferential treatment in the press, even from sites that cover everything else even-handedly. Rest assured, this isn't going to last forever.

Post-Steve Apple is certainly doing all it can to not follow his playbook.

I cannot believe that, if alive, Jobs would actually have stood behind changing the form factor of the docking connector with NO performance improvement. I honestly believe this to be the greatest Achiles Heel of the current generation of iDevices. Were steve alive, I'm certain that any new dock connector would have been accompanited with corresponding USB3-level speed updates.

As it is now, the iPhone 5 is exactly the device he cancelled just prior to stepping down: an iPhone 4 with a biogger screen, and nothing else.